For more than a century, there has been a legend in the
ever-enigmatic mountains of the American Northwest. The legend is based
on tales about enormous hairy creatures that walk upwards in the same way
that apes do. These creatures have received different names, such as "Sasquatch",
"Yeti", "Momo", "Touke Monster", "Yowies",
"Dawn Man", "The Abominable Snowman", "Big Spirit",
etc. But perhaps the most common name is "Bigfoot". Other creatures,
of different characteristics, have also received different names, like
"the Moor Monster", "Jersey Devil", "Mothman",
"Dove Demon", "Loveland Frog", and lately, the "Chupacabras".

Here in Florida, the creature known as Bigfoot has been
called the "Florida Skunk Ape". The name Skunk has been attributed
to it for its apparent bad smell, which has been described as a combination
of skunk, rotten eggs, and soiled manure. For the most part, the creature
has been described as standing nearly 7 feet high and weighting about 300
pounds. The area located between Homestead, Lake Okeechobee and Fort Myers,
Florida, is where most sightings have occurred. The creature can very easily
hide in this part of the Everglades; the vegetation is so dense that within
a few steps, it can hide in the brush, without anyone seeing it, not even
a low-flying helicopter. Furthermore, footprints are almost impossible
to last long enough to be found in the swamp. The popular legend of the
Skunk Ape has been part of the Everglades for decades.

One of the first stories mentions that the military captured
one of these beings and maintained it captive in the Everglades National
Park, until the creature knocked down a fence and escaped. Dozens of reports
of sightings during the seventies also mention the presence of an awful
smell, allegedly emitted by that creature. Nevertheless, contrary to other
Bigfoot-like beings, the Skunk Ape is described as a friendly creature.

On the other hand, there was strange activity during
the month of March of 1996 in the area of Miami that points out to an unknown
predator. These reports are very similar to events that happened before
in other parts of the country and abroad. This predator has been nicknamed
the "Chupacabras" among many folk stories, which have generated
considerable popularity. Moreover, it is interesting to compare its behavior
and characteristics with those of other similar creatures that have been
described in other parts of the country and the world.

By the middle of August of 2001, neighbors of a community
in Esmeralda de Tocopilla, in Chile, at around five in the morning, reported
seeing a strange creature on top of the roof of a house. They described
it as dark colored, with very bright eyes and making enormous leaps while
leaving the place where several domestic animals were found dead. The animals
had a small hole in the neck and no blood left in their bodies. Due to
those particular characteristics and descriptions, one eyewitness said
that it was the Chupacabras.

Aside from the endless amounts of sightings of this creature,
we will present a brief summary of some of the cases that we have looked
into. Although they describe different physical characteristics, they do
show similar sequences of events.

FIRST CASE

Place: Miami, Florida Date: August of 1977

Robert Morgan is considered a Bigfoot expert and has
been at the front line of different expeditions trying to capture a live
specimen. In the summer of 1977, we interviewed him after his conference
in the University of Miami. Among other things, he told us that he was
investigating a very interesting case that happened in Islamorada.

"From Islamorada to the south of Miami, we were
following a Bigfoot case, when neighbors of the island, reported hearing
strange noises, such as garbage cans hitting the floor and some broken
windows. The police closed all traffic to the island hoping to capture
the animal. After hours of searching for it, they found nothing. Some eyewitnesses
claimed to have seen a Bigfoot-like creature in the island. Others were
sure they saw it walking into the sea", said Morgan.

"At this time, I am investigating several Bigfoot
sightings in the Everglades. The area between Homestead, lake Okeechobee
and Fort Myers is where they have been seen it", he added. His interview
was published in a Spanish magazine called "Revista Replica".

SECOND CASE

Place: Miami Beach, Government Cut Duration: 4-5 minutes
The exact date is unknown It was in the summer of 1967, at approximately
3:00 AM

Anthony Martin was fishing at a location near the Port
of Miami. Suddenly, he saw a whirl in the water. He first thought it was
a scuba diver, but to his astonishment, he saw an enormous animal coming
out of the water. It stood about 8 feet tall and its weight must have been
about 400 pounds.

"Its head, face, eyes and ears looked like the ones
of an ape. The body was covered with a very black thick hair, its arms
were long; they extended below the knees. Its hands and feet were very
big. A bright lamp from a small house lit the entire place. When it finally
came out of the water, it walked towards me. The creature was limping on
its left foot. There was a small fence nearby; it was only about 3 feet
high, so it wasn't difficult for the creature to jump over it; in fact,
the being was so big that it stepped right over it. It walked a full circle
around me. The animal stopped at about 10 feet from me and emitted a guttural
sound. By that time, I saw the lights of an approaching police car. The
headlights were pointing at us. The creature continued to walk around for
a few more moments until it finally went back in the water and disappeared.
Two police officers with their guns came out of the patrol car; they told
me that they already knew about the creature. I finally left and went home.
That marked the end of my favorite sport: fishing", he said. At the
present time, Mr. Martin is retired and he lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This interview was recorded on video, in 1991.

Mr. Hector Abascal, 26 years old, and Mr. Jorge Porte,
of 25 years of age, were traveling on highway I-75, also known as the Everglades
Parkway. They were going to visit some friends in the city of Tampa. Afterwards,
they were planning to continue traveling to Orlando, where they would later
visit Disney World.

"We noticed that the car had a flat tire when we
were near Naples, it was well over 11 at night. I opened the trunk, grabbed
the lug wrench, and began loosening the nuts on the rim", said Hector.
"The first thing we noticed was a bad smell shortly followed by some
fairly audible footsteps. I looked to the other side of the highway and
I saw an enormous creature, illuminated by the rear lights of our car,
crossing the highway and heading right towards us. I turned around to see
if I could find Jorge, but he was already at a good distance from me; he
was so scared that he had already started running away from the site. I
stood up holding the lug wrench in my hands like a weapon. Within an instant,
the animal was already standing in front of me. I felt paralyzed. The animal
looked at me, then it just turned around and walked away. It continued
heading north, until it finally disappeared in the bushes. Jorge came back
and we got in the car without saying a word. We left the place immediately,
without even changing the tire", said Abascal.

According to their description, the Bigfoot creature
was about 7 or 8 feet tall. It also emitted a strong scent similar to rotten
eggs. It breathed heavily. It had the body shape of a human, but with the
face of an ape. Furthermore, its body was covered with black hair. The
interview was recorded on audiocassette.

FOURTH CASE

Place: Tocopilla, Chile Date: June 18 of 2000 Time: 12:00
AM

A group of young people was at the beach enjoying the
warmth of a bonfire. Suddenly, a large creature came out of the water.
They were all astonished as they saw the strange being getting closer.
The creature approached one of them making several guttural sounds, as
if it was trying to communicate with the young man. Moments later, it placed
its right hand on the young man's left shoulder, leaving a green stain
on his sweater, which they described as the same color as marine algae.
The Bigfoot-like creature soon left, as it got back in the water and disappeared
in the dark. The eyewitnesses, whom they preferred to remain anonymous,
described the creature as 8-feet tall, with long dark furry hair, long
arms with hands below the knees, big round eyes, with a long nose and mouth
shaped like an animal muzzle. This interview was recorded on video.

DISCUSSION

For the first time, this latest case alerted us about
the possibilities that the Bigfoot might have some kind of connection with
Chupacabras phenomenon, given that northern Chile, for the most part, is
well known for its Chupacabras sightings. This was something that never
would have occurred to us before.

A strange coincidence is that so many elements in both
the Islamorada and the Tocopilla cases are almost identical; both creatures
were seen leaving and entering the sea. This makes us think that they might
hide under the sea, lakes or swamps. Both creatures left footprints the
size of a football and other similar traces behind. Nevertheless, they
have never been photographed, and in spite of countless efforts, they have
never been captured. Furthermore, no one has ever found any remains of
these creatures.

There are many reports of ufos entering and leaving the
sea, both in Florida and in Chile. During an interview for Teletrece, a
national Chilean television network, dated October 21 of 2001, Jorge Martinez,
a retired Admiral and former Chilean Chief of Naval Operations, admitted
that he personally had witnessed two ufo sightings at sea. During one of
them, a nearby ufo caused interference with the navigation systems and
the ship's radar. It is widely known that many other naval officers have
seen similar objects, which they call "UUOs", (Unidentified Underwater
Objects). According to the former Chilean Navy Chief, this phenomenon is
real.

A taxi driver, who we call Carlos, and happens to be
a friend of Jaime Ferrer, our associate in Calama, Chile, has told us that
during a trip to Tocopilla, he and some customers saw several low-flying
ufos coming from the sea towards the nearby Atacama Desert, where later,
tracks made by some kind of landing gear, as well as Chupacabras tracks
were found. The tracks appeared to be coming from the exact spot where
the ufo landed.

Coincidently, just like the Chupacabras and ufo tracks
in Chile, there have been reports of ufos in the same areas where Bigfoot
creatures have been seen. Although we have not been able to establish a
possible Bigfoot-UFO connection in the United States, we can look at the
cases reported near Mount Rainier, in the State of Washington, where Kenneth
Arnold observed nine ufos in 1947 giving popularity to the "flying
saucer phenomena". Yet, in the same area, there have been countless
Bigfoot or Sasquatch sightings dating back to the XIX century.

On the other hand, in light of the evidence found in
Chile, we can now affirm that the Chupacabras is part of the ufo phenomenon.
We have not found evidence that it is part of some kind of terrestrial
genetic experiment, nor do we believe that it is an ordinary animal. The
evidence points out to a ufo related origin; I don't have slightest doubt
about it.

All this is creating a new chapter in the investigation
of the ufo phenomenon that undoubtedly, many will find difficult to accept.
But this is very typical. For example, the abduction phenomenon took more
than 20 years before ufologists accepted it as part of the ufo investigative
field. Even today, many still doubt that alien abductions take place.

It is not my intention to try to convince anyone that
the Bigfoot and the Chupacabras phenomena are the same; instead, like many
other strange creatures, these may have a possible relation with ufos.
It is not a coincidence that we receive reports mentioning a Bigfoot creature
in Tocopilla, Chile, followed by numerous Chupacabras and ufo sightings,
in what we could call the Chilean 2000-2001 wave.

We are facing a presence of intelligent or programmed
creatures that have appeared sporadically and have been associated with
other phenomena for more than a century, to whom erroneously, we have given
them different names. To finally understand what is really behind all of
these creatures, we have to study their characteristics, their behavior,
and most importantly, the other associated phenomena that are often reported
when these cases take place. We should know and learn about these phenomena,
not only for their physical aspect of these creatures, but for their intentions,
and most importantly, for their actions and their reactions.

We are buried in some kind of game where our intelligence
faces another intelligence, which happens to be strange or, to say the
least, different than ours, where the apparently incompatible logic doesn't
seem to work, let alone our intuition. Accumulating data from field investigations
is all we can do at this point in time. But, will we finally ever know
the essence of these phenomena?

We still don't hold the truth in our hands, but we are
looking for it.